The TD study conducted online by Environics Research Group from Feb. 11-25 using 3,026 Canadians aged 18 years and older and working full-time, found 40% of respondents say they couldn't afford a vacation. Those unused vacation days amount to a lot of money and productivity. A study by Expedia.ca in 2009 found 34 million vacation days are unused every year by Canadians, which ultimately translates into about $6-billion in income.

Lawyer Howard Levitt says you might be out of luck legally if you don't manage to squeeze that vacation time in because employers are within their rights to have a "use it or lose it" vacation policy.

Every province usually has a minimum vacation period - usually two weeks that every employee has to get and legally must take - but everything above that is discretionary.

"They can say anything over two weeks [you don't use] you lose," said Mr. Levitt, adding you can spell out in a contract that you are allowed to accumulate days and carry them into the next year.

Toronto lawyer Hendrik Nieuwland says if your employment contract is not clear that you forfeit unused vacation days, you might have rights. There might be a legal argument that you are entitled to carry-over vacation or to receive a payout for unused vacation.

"I deal with [human resources] people all the time because I represent employers and I can tell you from a practical point of view the vast majority of HR people, 99%, are reasonable folk," said Mr. Nieuwland, noting in most cases there can be a accommodation allowing an employee to use that banked time off at some point.

Ultimately, Mr. Nieuwland agrees that most people are not going to want to sue their current employer to get vacation entitlement. Plus, vacation is usually a small portion of any severance package and you can only legally go back two years for any claim.

Nevertheless, vacation is almost always an important negotiating point in any employment agreement, says Sean McLean, a Calgary-based partner with executive search team Caldwell Partners.

"Where vacation ranks changes based on the generation you are talking about. Baby Boomers, empty nesters versus Millennials versus Generation Xers with a couple of young kids, it varies based on the stage of their life," says McLean.

One vacation demand is consistent: Nobody wants to go backward in the amount of time they get off.

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